Jay Cutler Injury: Did Cutler Give Up on the Bears, or Are We Just Overreacting?
Published by Sam Westmoreland on January 24, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The Jay Cutler injury has caused quite a bit of buzz across the sports world today, and with good reason.
After all, it’s not every day that a quarterback who is one of the faces of his franchise, who’s being paid close to $10 million this season, suddenly can’t come back into one of the biggest playoff games in franchise history.
Cutler’s been getting blasted in the media and by current and former players (mostly from non-playoff teams whose alleged tough-guy acts worked so well for them this season) regarding his decision not to come back into the game after sustaining a knee injury at the end of the first half of the NFC Championship Game.
Fans and writers alike have questioned the cannon-armed quarterback’s toughness, thinking that he should have forced his way back into the game. After all, that’s what Brett Favre, the pinnacle of all things tough and gritty in the NFL, would have done.
But maybe, just maybe, we’re all being a little harsh on Jay. After all, when has he not displayed toughness on the field? He stood in the pocket all season behind an offensive line so porous it makes a sponge look impervious.
Cutler was sacked 52 times in 2010-11, more than any other quarterback in football by a fairly sizable margin. That’s not counting the number of times he was hit while throwing or hit after throwing.
And don’t get me started on the 2007 season. Cutler played the entire year showing symptoms of being diabetic, and it wasn’t diagnosed until after the season ended.
Remember in Week 4? Cutler stood in the pocket and took a literal beating from the New York Giants, being sacked nine times and getting hit plenty more than that. He finally left the game at halftime with (shockingly) a concussion.
None of us know the severity of Cutler’s knee injury yet, but we do know, from what he and head coach Lovie Smith told us after the game, that the quarterback couldn’t plant and throw. I don’t know about you, but that seems pretty essential to any passing game in the NFL. After all, you can’t put zip on the ball if you can’t plant and deliver.
Maybe, just maybe, the decision to bench Cutler was the right one. Maybe the team realized that it had two quarterbacks who could plant and deliver and that Cutler was no good to them playing injured.
Plus, given the quarterback’s struggles in the first half (a wholly different kettle of fish), it could be that the decision was made in the hopes of shaking things up a bit, instead of simply limping the franchise quarterback onto the field and hoping he finds enough strength in the knee to make big plays.
Seems logical, right?
So where’s all of the vitriol about Cutler “quitting” and being a “sissy” coming from?
It seems to me that much of it stems from the quarterback not being the most likable guy on the face of the Earth. In fact, he’s kind of a prick.
Sports writers are a sensitive lot. They play favorites (look no further than a certain 41-year-old quarterback who sent pictures of his junk to a sideline hostess for proof of that), and if you’re not liked, they’ll bury you if you give them the chance.
Cutler’s never been too cordial to the press and has a reputation as a bit of a jerk. Thus, when he gets hurt and doesn’t come back to a game, it stands to reason that they’ll start to question his toughness.
I know—if it had been Brett Favre, we would have seen him stay on the field. But is that really a good thing? I mean, Favre has gutted through every injury imaginable, but if you think back, was he ever all that effective when he’d do it? Or did he struggle to complete passes, throw some interceptions and finish with 150 yards for the game?
In other words, while toughness and grit are all well and good, it’s not always conducive to winning football games—and the Bears were trying to win the game. Why risk Cutler delivering a Favre-esque post-injury howler when you have two quarterbacks who can at least plant and deliver the football?
Then there’s the future to consider. Cutler had been hit eight times in the first half, so it stands to reason that the quarterback would take even more punishment if he went back in, thereby increasing the likelihood of making an injury even worse.
Why risk your franchise quarterback for one game? I know it’s the Super Bowl, but the Bears are a talented team. They’ll contend for the NFC North crown again next season, and it’d be tough to do that if Cutler turns into another Carson Palmer, a potential minor knee ailment turning into a serious shredding of his knee.
Finally, there’s the confidence issue. What message does that send to Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie (who looked pretty darned good at times on Sunday)? By playing Cutler when he can’t plant and deliver, it tells them, “We trust you about as far as one of the cheerleaders can throw Olin Kreutz.”
If Cutler’s hurt, why not go to a backup? It tells them, “We trust you to lead this team,” and makes them infinitely more likely to succeed.
Maybe Jay’s injury turns out to be nothing serious. Maybe he could have come back in after all. Or perhaps it will turn out to be some sort of serious malady that could require surgery, in which case there will be plenty of sportswriters eating crow.
With that, maybe before we go ranting about Jay Cutler being a sissy, we should take a second and see just what is ailing him. Even if it’s nothing serious, that doesn’t mean he quit; it just means he listened to the trainers.
Besides, if it’s good enough for Brian Urlacher, why isn’t it good enough for you?
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